The proliferation of voice and data transmission technology has borne a concomitant proliferation in the hardware necessary to support that technology. Integral to the networks of phones, data terminals and processors facilitating transmission are multitudes of connectors, or terminal blocks, which connect the wires to effect the actual passage of electrical voice and data signals. Ease and reliability in configuring wiring networks must be a major consideration in the design of terminal blocks to be used in these vast networks.
Early connector and terminal block panels used screw-type binding post terminals which, while offering flexibility, required the manual cutting to length, stripping, wrapping, and fastening of the wire to the terminal block by means of a screwdriver. In addition to the cumbersome nature of the wiring procedure these connections could not be gas tight and were prone to becoming unreliable over time.
More recently, insulation displacement contacts (I.D.C.) have eliminated the need for stripping wires. I.D.C. connectors generally have Y-shaped resilient contacts which, when a wire is forced into the contacts, displace the insulation surrounding the conductive core of the wire providing electrical continuity. U.S. Pat. No. 4,262,984, to Takahashi, illustrates the insulation displacement concept. Some insulation displacement connectors have also eliminated the need for cutting a wire to length as wire trimming is facilitated upon installation into the I.D.C. connector. However, many I.D.C. connectors still require the use of a tool in making the electrical connection between wire and connector.
Today's business and social communities continue to bring increasing communications networking opportunities. Installation space accommodations, therefore, are demanding increasingly higher priority. This, obviously, translates into a need for equipment and/or components which offer a higher density of terminals within a relatively limited, or confined space.